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After a rain and wind soaked second round of the British Open, the players were greeted by spectacular conditions to try and make their moves around the Royal Birkdale layout on moving day.
Given the placid conditions, the course was there for the taking in Round 3 and that’s what many of the world’s best players did. Brandon Grace went out early and created Major Championship history shooting an -8 par 62.
Grace broke the record for lowest score in Major history, beating Johnny Miller’s, and last month’s US Open third round hero Justin Thomas’, scores of 63. Aussie hero and former world number one, Jason Day, made up for a lacklustre 76 in the second round with a sparkling 65.
Lesser known Australian Scott Hend jumped up an incredible 43 positions on the leader board with a round of 65. Both Day and Hend are sitting at even Par for the Championship in a tie for 18th.
The man to catch is overnight leader Jordan Spieth.
Spieth will be trying to secure his third Major Championship. His third round was a faultless 65. Spieth is looking to go wire to wire like he did to win his first Major, the 2015 US Masters.
Spieth began the third round with a two-shot lead over compatriot Matt Kuchar, who was very steady shooting a competitive 66.
Kuchar looked in complete control of his round and was just one shot behind Spieth standing on the 16th tee, but unfortunately for Kuchar, he made a horrible double bogey six and Spieth extended his lead to three shots by the end of the third round.
There were numerous players making inroads on moving day, Japan’s world number 2 Hideki Matsuyama shot 66 to put him in a tie for fifth at -4.
World number one, Dustin Johnson, found some of his best golf on moving day and carded a 64 and is in a tie for seventh with defending champion, Swede Henrik Stenson, who shot 66.
Aussie Marc Leishman and local hope Tommy Fleetwood also carded 66’s to place them in a tie for 29th at +1 for the Championship.
It will take a lot for Jordan Spieth to be toppled tomorrow but Spieth will have inner demons that he will have to confront.
In the back of his mind will be the scars from the 2016 US Masters where Spieth had a five-stroke lead when he reached the back nine.
Spieth made bogey on 10, bogey on 11 and then, after hitting two balls in the water, he made a disastrous quadruple bogey on the famous par three, 12th.
How the American copes with this will be enthralling viewing come tomorrow.
So far this week Spieth has been faultless, but there is a long list of world-class players waiting for the slightest slip and they will make their move. One thing is for sure, we are set for an extremely entertaining final round.